This thing is just too much fun!! :}} If you want to jam and jam with yourself, and have endless inspiration from a very inexpensive device. I have owned one for 3 years and I have a lot of other gear that's supposed to be much much better quality. But this little pup gives me a lot of pleasure and no pain. I really love it for what it is. Its a lot cooler than it looks!! Way beyond most stale and sterile drum machines out there. This thing has a life of its own. Dont depend on the FX tho, they are pretty limited. You will want to go outboard as always even on a high end synth, outboard FX are always better IMHO. Keep it rollin!!!!!

Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Tuesday-Mar-19-2002 at 17:46

kbuzz
a hobbyist user
from usa
writes:

the good: battery power capable fun little knobs buttons that light up to the tempo zillions of sounds decent presets easy to use

the bad: rca's rca's rca's a little light on the volume small screen, not backlit somewhat cheap feeling

Rating: 4 out of 5
posted Tuesday-Mar-19-2002 at 14:25

MLT
a part-time user
from Green Bay
writes:

Line output instead of single channel outputs really sucks. but ither than that a great tool for a cheap cost, i got so many phat beats goin i gotta erase daily, Plus there are many effects to discover, Great for sequencing a beat into song format, phat ass ol school beats to rap to and use for the start of an original, Portamento is handy, reverb is nice but not many different kinds, great for hip hop and techno beats, despite not having single channels, if you got a mixer, pan all drums left and bass right and put it onto 2 seperate tracks, works for me and for now but i'll let you decide

Rating: 4 out of 5
posted Friday-Mar-15-2002 at 13:14

brian
from brianbrunson@man.com
writes:

I just traded a E-MU XL-7 for both an MC-505 and the DR-202. If I had paid cash for it, it would've been $180. Cheap.

Which is what this box is. The whole unit has an overall cheapy fit and feel. C'mon...RCA jacks? Wall wart? Flimsy pads that stick and stutter? It weighs all of, I dunno, two ounces! Who was sober when they paid $350 ($370 with ac adapter) at Guitar Center? If I were a new gear shopper, I'd pay more for METAL, or at least something of substance. Once again, what's going on with the RCA jacks? Are Boss in cahoots with Radio Shack to sell more rca-1/4 inch adapters? Jeez. However, I'm really impressed by the sound quality. Even some of the preset patterns aren't the worst I've heard (the mc-505's are). Drums can be made to be nice and crunchy, and programming is very simple. Synth patches more or less suck...on par for instruments like this..., but again, the quality of the percussive end is astounding.

Where's my midi thru? If there's one thing I need in life as much as midi thru, it's beer. I just assumed it either had a dedicated thru port or could be configged to handle it through another midi port. And damnit, couldn't they have designed a display that went without background light only in battery mode? How expensive would it have been for Roland / Boss to have thrown in a little bulb? I understand saving power for batteries, but most of us have the adapter. It would have been easy to ahve bypassed the backlight when in battery mode, that's all. Just like most cars will disable the headlights while being started. Love the knobs. Instrument selector knob is particularly useful for real time tweaking of, say, flange and 'verb on the snare and hat while keeping a dry low end. Nice touch on an otherwise cheap, corner-cutting box that was, apparently, researched for and marketed to DJ's who don't actually play an instrument. Still, just knodding to sound quality alone for overshadowing the fact that the dr-202 is, more or less, piece of sh*t. is worth a well-earned 3.5 out of 5.

Rating: 3 out of 5
posted Friday-Feb-01-2002 at 03:51

David
from Germany
writes:

I bought this used for $150. First, I was really sceptic about it. Then I managed to make the first cool beats on the first day without reading the manual. The dr 202 is really easy to use. I think it is not comparable with the groove-boxes but as it comes to drum-computers, I think this peacy of gear really does it. You have lots of different drums to choose from an you can manipulate each sound with the filters. Also the bass-section is good. I think, there are over 30 different bass-sounds and again you can manipulate each one with the filters the way you want it to sound. A drawback maybe the step-sequencer which is not really comfortable to use. I think, the dr202 is overpriced but if you can get one used for less than $200, it's a good deal.